After
The Sun Also Rises
Ernest Hemingway1926
- pace
- prose
- structure
- bleakness
6 of 6 directions open
More like it
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The Romantic
Barbara Gowdy2003
Louise Kirk spends decades obsessed with Abel, the boy next door. The story follows her from childhood through an adulthood defined by longing.
Same elegiac register, still unrequited love
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The Folding Star
Alan Hollinghurst1994
An English tutor in a Flemish city becomes obsessed with his teenage student. He pursues other men while fixating on the boy.
Same elegiac register, still unrequited love
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Brideshead Revisited
Evelyn Waugh1945
Charles Ryder recalls his years at Oxford and his obsession with an aristocratic Catholic family. The story spans two decades of social change.
Same elegiac register, still historical fiction
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According to Queeney
Beryl Bainbridge2001
The daughter of a wealthy brewer observes the aging Samuel Johnson as he becomes fixated on her mother in 18th-century London.
elegiac → sardonic, still historical fiction
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1 more ↓ ↑
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The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet
David Mitchell2010
A Dutch clerk arrives at a restricted Japanese trading outpost in 1799. He navigates corporate corruption and a forbidden romance.
Same elegiac register, still historical fiction
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Denser prose
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A Brief History of Seven Killings
Marlon James2014
A large cast of characters recounts the 1976 attempt on Bob Marley's life. The narrative spans decades and moves from Jamaica to New York.
elegiac → propulsive, still historical fiction
pace+1·prose+1·bleak+1
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Absalom, Absalom!
William Faulkner1936
The rise and fall of Thomas Sutpen is recounted through multiple, conflicting memories. The prose uses extremely long, complex sentences.
Same elegiac register, still historical fiction
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1
3 more ↓ ↑
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Gravity's Rainbow
Thomas Pynchon1973
During the end of WWII, an American lieutenant's sexual encounters seem to predict where German V-2 rockets will fall. The narrative is fragmented.
elegiac → sardonic, still historical fiction
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Don Quixote
Kathy Acker1986
A woman undergoes an abortion and adopts the persona of Don Quixote to pursue a quest in a fragmented, postmodern landscape.
elegiac → sardonic
pace0·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace-1prose+1bleak+1
Translated Accounts
James Kelman2001
Anonymous witnesses describe life under a military regime. The prose uses broken, bureaucratic syntax to mimic a literal translation.
elegiac → bleak
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1
To recover
- pace+1prose-2bleak-2
Fifty Shades of Grey
E.L. James2000
A college student enters a sexual contract with a wealthy businessman. The story focuses on their power dynamics and BDSM encounters.
elegiac → earnest
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2
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The Duke and I
Julia Quinn2000
A duke and a debutante enter a fake courtship to avoid social pressure. They navigate Regency London's marriage market while hiding their deal.
elegiac → playful
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3 more ↓ ↑
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On Dublin Street
Samantha Young2012
An American woman in Scotland enters a sex-only arrangement with her roommate's brother to avoid emotional intimacy. It is a contemporary romance.
elegiac → warm
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2
- pace+1prose-2bleak-2
Night Pleasures
Sherrilyn Kenyon2002
An immortal warrior and a skeptical accountant are handcuffed together while being hunted by supernatural predators.
elegiac → playful
pace+1·prose-2·bleak-2
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Honeysuckle Summer
Sherryl Woods2010
A woman with severe anxiety and agoraphobia after an abusive marriage finds support from a local deputy. He helps her re-enter the world.
elegiac → warm
pace0·prose-2·bleak-2
Faster
- pace+2prose-2bleak-2
Dial A for Aunties
Jesse Q. Sutanto2021
A photographer accidentally kills her blind date. Her mother and aunties help hide the body during a massive luxury wedding.
elegiac → playful
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2
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Child 44
Tom Rob Smith2008
A Soviet security officer investigates a serial killer in a state that officially claims murder does not exist.
elegiac → tense
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3 more ↓ ↑
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Candide
Voltaire
A naive young man travels the world while his tutor insists that everything is for the best. He encounters a series of global catastrophes.
elegiac → sardonic
pace+2·prose-1·bleak-1
- pace+2prose-2bleak-2
The Da Vinci Code
Dan Brown2003
A symbologist and a cryptologist flee the police while solving puzzles hidden in art. They search for a secret regarding the Holy Grail.
elegiac → propulsive
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2
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The Martian
Andy Weir2011
A man does arithmetic to stay alive on Mars. Problem, attempt, result, repeat.
elegiac → wry
pace+2·prose-2·bleak-2
Slower
Same elegiac register, still historical fiction
- pace-1prose+1bleak+1
Absalom, Absalom!
William Faulkner1936
The rise and fall of Thomas Sutpen is recounted through multiple, conflicting memories. The prose uses extremely long, complex sentences.
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1
- pace-1prose0bleak0
The English Patient
Michael Ondaatje1992
Four people shelter in a ruined Italian villa at the end of WWII. They care for a burned, anonymous man who recounts his past in the desert.
pace-1·prose0·bleak0
3 more ↓ ↑
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Ulysses
James Joyce1914
Three characters wander through Dublin on a single day in 1904. Each chapter uses a different literary style to mimic thoughts and sensations.
elegiac → playful
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Umbrella
Will Self2013
A psychiatrist in 1971 treats a woman who has been catatonic for decades. The prose shifts between eras and consciousnesses without paragraph breaks.
elegiac → clinical
pace-1·prose+1·bleak0
- pace-1prose+1bleak+1
Translated Accounts
James Kelman2001
Anonymous witnesses describe life under a military regime. The prose uses broken, bureaucratic syntax to mimic a literal translation.
elegiac → bleak
pace-1·prose+1·bleak+1
Heavier
elegiac → bleak, still historical fiction
- pace0prose-1bleak+1
A Fine Balance
Rohinton Mistry1995
Four people from different castes share a small apartment during the 1975 Indian Emergency. Their lives are upended by state-sanctioned violence.
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The Confessions of Nat Turner
William Styron1967
A fictionalized confession of the leader of an 1831 slave revolt while he awaits execution in a Virginia jail cell.
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3 more ↓ ↑
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The Known World
Edward P. Jones2003
A black man who was once a slave becomes a slave owner in antebellum Virginia. The story follows the fallout on the plantation after his death.
elegiac → meditative, still historical fiction
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
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A Long Long Way
Sebastian Barry2005
A young Irishman joins the British Army to fight in the trenches of World War I while his home country moves toward rebellion.
Same elegiac register, still historical fiction
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Brotherless Night
V. V. Ganeshananthan2023
A young woman in Sri Lanka tries to study medicine while her brothers join militant groups during the civil war. It covers a decade of conflict.
Same elegiac register, still historical fiction
pace0·prose0·bleak+1
